TP marvels at Manu’s toughness

But he had no conception that Ginobili was playing with what amounted to a broken right arm during the playoffs.

“It’s hard to believe,” Parker said about Ginobili’s gutty display in the playoffs. “Obviously, you could see he was a little bit hurt. He wasn’t 100 percent, but I didn’t know he was that bad.”

Ginobili was involved in a grinding collision between Tim Duncan and Phoenix’s Grant Hill in the final regular-season game on April 13. After that, Ginobili played the final five games of the playoffs with a fractured ulna, one of the two long bones running from his wrist to elbow.

Despite playing with his injured arm in a bulky brace, Ginobili averaged a team-leading 20.6 points per game against the Grizzlies.

“That just tells you how strong he is mentally and he’ll do anything to try to help us win,” Parker said. “I knew he wanted to play in Game 1, too. He’s that crazy.

“But I didn’t know he had a fracture. I respect him a lot. It’s crazy for him to play in that series with that kind of injury.”